By Lateef Ibrahim, Abuja
The African Democratic Congress, ADC, has disagreed with the National Security Adviser, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu and the Chief of Defence Staff, CDS, General Olufemi Oluyede for referring to terrorists as ‘brothers’ and ‘sons: respectively.
The National Publicity Secretary of the ADC said this in a post on his X (formerly Twitter) handle on Friday in Abuja.
Abdullahi pointed out that “these rhetorics” reflect a dangerous mindset that accommodates and tolerates criminality instead of confronting it.
He argued that when a government begins to frame terrorists in familiar terms, it blurs the moral and legal lines that must remain clear in any serious security response.
With this mindset, he said, it is easy to understand why the current approach has struggled to protect lives and decisively end the killings.
The party cautioned that this trend must not be allowed to continue. According to Abdullahi, ‘First, the NSA referred to terrorists as his brothers.
“Now, the Chief of Defence Staff is referring to terrorists as sons.
“These rhetorics reflect a dangerous mindset that accommodates and tolerates criminality instead of confronting it.
“When a government begins to frame terrorists in familial terms, it blurs the moral and legal lines that must remain clear in any serious security response.
“With this mindset, it is easy to understand why the current approach has struggled to protect lives and decisively end the killings.
“This must not be allowed to continue.
“Under an ADC government, there will be no ambiguity. Bandits and kidnappers and terrorists will be treated the same as all enemies of Nigeria.
“We will establish special terrorism courts to ensure swift prosecution.
“Our counter-terrorism framework will rest on four pillars”, it said.
The ADC listed them as; Local level intelligence gathering; State level prevention and detterence; National level coordination and enforcement; as well as regional level collaboration across neighbouring countries.
He assured that like in all other things, ADC will put citizens first.
Continuing, Abdullahi said, “We will not cuddle terrorists.
“The message will be clear: there will be severe consequences for killing a Nigerian.
“A terrorist will neither be a son nor a brother. They are the enemies and will be treated as such”, he said.and will be treated as such”, he said.
